Germany vs Sweden: Public social spending as share of GDP

Germany

27.9%

in 2024

Sweden

26.1%

in 2024

Germany rank

5th

Sweden rank

8th

Public social spending as share of GDP over time

Germany currently reports 27.9% against 26.1% in Sweden, a difference of 1.8%.

That makes Germany's figure about 1.1 times Sweden's.

The two have swapped places 5 times across 69 shared years of data; in 1880 it was Sweden ahead.

Germany ranks 5th and Sweden ranks 8th of 42 countries.

Indicator: Public social spending as share of GDP
Unit: % of GDP
Source: OECD (2025); OECD (1985); Lindert (2004) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 42 places, 1,937 data points, 1880–2024
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Public social expenditure divided bt gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage.